There’s been ups and downs. At work, I’ve been laser focused… and then the spring weather hit. The pollen and high temperatures are huge distractions. Thankfully we’re having a VERY random cool down… which is refreshing, even if it still is above average temperatures! The cool down has helped me get back on focus, and hopefully stay focused when the heat returns.

Right now I’m in the middle of trying to go without eggs or dairy – to see if I could be sensitive to either one. In my teens I was allergic to eggs if they weren’t baked into something else. I’m going insane over this, I had JUST come to terms with the idea of fermenting things beyond kombucha and milk kefir… and then I had to go and give up dairy. Yeah there’s vegetable starters out there, and I could do wild ferments – but the starters I’ve found could be cross contaminated with wheat, and I’m still too chicken for wild ferments.

Why am I giving up the dairy and eggs? Well, crazy bad eczema. If you follow me on IG… you’ve seen how bad it got. We’re pretty sure the eczema is caused by stress – but we wanted to be extra sure that dairy and eggs weren’t contributing.

Thankfully, my grandparents sent a case of avocados from their ranch – a HUGE lifesaver. Avocados are my favorite food – especially now that I can’t have sushi – so it was most definitely the best care package ever.

So health wise, I guess you could say I’m staying focused on keeping in line with food stuff. It helps that we’re able to get meats and most foods at a huge discount thanks to Jeff’s new job 🙂 At the moment I started tracking food again to make sure I’m staying low carb and getting plenty of protein.

Since the weather is being nice, and because our fitness center is currently unavailable – I’ve been going on daily walks with friends. It’s much more motivating than a stuffy small room. Checking off my movement focus goal too 🙂 I’m thinking about investing in something like a fitbit to make sure I get in enough movement each day – but for now, that’s not a necessity.

Overall, I feel pretty positive about 2015 – there have been a lot of stressful and horrible days and weeks, but the positives outweigh them.

Including a surprise I have later this week – something that will hopefully change your life for the better, like it’s significantly helped mine.

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

Since I announced the closing of Real Life Scrapped, I’ve received a lot of amazing messages from people in the scrapbooking community. It makes the decision even harder, but we’ll see what the future holds.

A lot are asking for updates on how we’re holding up since the last update, so here’s a quick one.

Right now, I’m finally catching up on work since my computer crash. Jeff has been an amazing help – his layoff has kind of been a blessing in regards to my computer crash and higher-than-usual chaos. He’s been a real help with remembering to take care of chores and making sure I eat. A lot of you sent messages of encouragement for him too, he loves the attention! We still don’t know what the future holds for him career-wise, but we’re not worried. Ideally he would pick up some outdoorsy-clients and expand upon my business, but I still need to find the time to train him.

The dogs are happy as clams, Pebbles has taken up playing Civ5 with Jeff. They don’t care about much, except unlimited cuddles for warmth.

That’s pretty much it – work and dog cuddles! I hope to get back to proper blogging and designing in the new year, but right now I’m going to enjoy a book and the TV yule log!

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

Well, it’s safe to say my pocket scrapping project is still dead, but who knows? Maybe it’ll get revived soon. But, I felt like I should at least blog about what’s been going on in our life so far this summer.

Not much.

Jeff doesn’t get any time off from work, and since we share a car, our weekends are like get-all-the-errands-and-shopping-done-or-die.

Here’s the last few weeks, in a nutshell, thanks to my instagram feed. Plus, there’s something big coming soon 😉

It’s hot. Really hot. Riley has discovered the awesomeness that are fans. It wasn’t even that hot the day I took this photo, but it was hot enough to make folding all that laundry miserable… so I’m glad she solved that problem by laying on the pile of clothes.

Jeff broke the NO GLUTEN EXCEPT BEER rule, and brought home some bacon orange chicken from Panda. I think everyone was impressed that I didn’t kill him, with me being all celiac-y and unable to enjoy such sweet nector of the fast food industry. Maybe I’ll attempt to make some myself, but that’s not happening anytime soon.

He also broke his diet to eat that Panda, because he’s currently obsessed with body building and body builders don’t eat that crap. He wont let me post photos of all his competition poses, maybe when his muscles are bigger. Yeah, he has poses.

The guinea pigs have gotten really really bold. And demanding. Instead of being office piggies like at our old house, they’re now sitting room piggies… and loving it! They SEE ALL THE PEOPLE and pop corn like crazy whenever someone walks into the room. Especially if they have a tomato. But as you can tell from this photo, they still refuse to have close-up photos done.

My parents & grandparents took my youngest brother and sister back to the UK for a family reunion with our cousins, and to show them where they get all their craziness. I thought it was interesting how they raise prostate cancer awareness on their postmarks over there. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could get the same over here for Parkinson’s Disease?

Jeff and I ran a 5k, because we were all… hey! it’s only five dollars! why not??

Oh yeah… here’s a few reasons why not:

The last time we ran a 5k was early May, at night, in the dark, and somewhat cool weather.

It was 106F

In direct sunlight

With only one water stop

and I was in denial that I had a summer cold.

Not the smartest thing we’ve done this summer. Really.

We’ve been eating a lot of pork, but pictures of carnitas aren’t as exciting as pictures of big-ass ribeyes.

A few days after that 5k, I realized I really FUBAR’d my good knee, so I loaded up on collagen. My UPS guy totally sympathized with me when he delivered it. Oh, and I also got a weather station… because the “official” weather for Fresno comes from the airport, in the somewhat central-east-ish area of the city, and we’re in a completely different area near the river… so, weather is never the same. And I’m obsessed with knowing how miserable I’ll be on Riley’s four daily walks.

Oh, I cut off all my hair, and I still haven’t taken a decent photo of the new haircut. Just this sweaty, opps-I-ran-errands-right-after-my-cut-and-forgot-to-take-the-after-photo!

There’s been less nail polish purchases than usual. Well, until recently… when I discovered Sally Hansen’s Miracle Gels and that Target had put all the Color Foils on clearance.

Did I mention that it’s smokey here? We’re just south of two major forest fires, and it’s pretty terrible. Yeah, that’s smoke, not clouds. Jeff has it worse at work in the mountains, he’s coughing up his lungs from it.

I restocked on my favorite essential oil blend, “Relieve” from Native American Nutritionals. It’s really come in handy with all the headaches from the terrible smokey air.

Riley received a new dog tag from Lofted Designs, she loves it! Even though the different noise on her collar bothered her for a little while 🙂

Jeff and I braved the heat on Tuesday night to see Angel Pagan and Hector Sanchez do a rehab game with the Grizzlies. It was an insane game, but not because of the score…

Last but not least, I’m working on something pretty awesome to wrap up this summer… the bulk of which will land on August 22nd. Mark your calendars, subscribe to the newsletter, follow on facebook… all the safeguards you can get so you don’t miss this!

Apologies for the Instagram photos, I knew that trying to manage my DSLR plus listen to what he was saying was going to be impossible for me, even if I did get more than the four hours of sleep I was functioning on.

When Erin and I arrived at Macy’s, the stage was set — everything was very crisp white with accents of American reds and blues.

You could tell everyone was excited and anxious to see Clinton. I heard whispers of women asking each other about their outfits, and being thankful that there would be no “What Not to Wear”-type of ambushing.

I was glad to hear I wasn’t the only one who freaked out about her eyebrows before the event!

(Note: I am a member of the Everywhere Society and Everywhere has provided me with compensation for this post about Macy’s. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own.)

Everyone who was able to grab a seat got these cute gold make up bags from Macy’s, along with some material on Estee Lauder’s current product line and Clinton.

When Clinton appeared and started the show, he remarked about how casual of a town Fresno is. Apparently people were giving him strange looks at the airport for wearing a suit, and a nice one at that! Considering how hot it is in Fresno, you have to be insane to wear a suit anywhere! Or at least very fashion conscious 😉

The main portion of the event was a fashion show with several different trends. Clinton started off with one trend that I’ll probably never feel comfortable in — all white!

Next he shared the classic pencil skirt, followed by the moto jacket. My favorite point he made about jackets was that they’re a great wardrobe “upgrade” — plus they stay in style longer than other items of clothing.

Stiletto pants & floral print dresses! I was having issues with my phone and couldn’t get a good photo — but thank goodness Amanda from Fashion, Love, and Martinis got a good shot of my favorite dress!

Clinton packed TONS of advice into the one hour he was there. I tried to live-tweet as much as I could, but here are the points that stood out to me the most:

After a certain age, there’s certain trends that are best left un-embraced. Were you old enough to own a boho sweater when it was a trend a few or so decades ago? Embracing that trend again just makes it look like you’re wearing an outfit from your youth… it’s tacky.

Boobs are meant to be halfway between the shoulder and the elbow — get a professional bra fitting!! Your bra band does most of the work, if it doesn’t fit you right — people will notice. If your weight changes more than 15lbs, get refitted. He said in all the years they did What Not to Wear, only two women came to them with a properly fitting bra.

Have you lost weight? Don’t wait for your body to get smaller before you start buying new clothes. That logic wont help your confidence. Dress your body for the size it is now, buy a few key clothing items and mix and match them — it’s perfectly OK to repeat the same pieces week after week! People don’t notice!

Big or little bags? Buy a purse that fits your frame and your stuff. If you can’t find a bag large enough to fit your stuff but small enough for your frame, chances are you don’t need to carry around your hair dryer all day… it’s time to lose the literal baggage.

His most important message was – BE YOU! Just be yourself and the best version of yourself that you can be. We need to stop using the “h” word towards ourselves (like how I hated my chest for the majority of my life) — it just kills our confidence and our spirits when the biggest bully in your life is yourself!

This is so true for me. If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that weight loss has been a major struggle in my life the last few years. Now I don’t feel as bad about myself or my body. Beauty can be found in any shape or size, it’s having confidence in yourself that matters. I’m so glad I went to the event, even though fashion isn’t really a passion of mine. Clinton gave me the boost of confidence that I needed to keep plugging along with my journey towards fitness, even during this summer heat! Especially now that I have three new dresses that are just begging to be worn 😉

(Note: I am a member of the Everywhere Society and Everywhere has provided me with compensation for this post about Macy’s. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own.)

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

I kind of owe Clinton Kelly my life, or at least my confidence.

Seriously. As a girl who started ‘developing’ in the third grade, with a mother who didn’t know anything about getting a good bra… I had huge confidence issues just because of my chest. All through elementary school, I prayed they would stop growing.

Well, God laughed, because he gave me quite a bit of volume.

Even in college, I struggled with badly fitting bras and continued to try to hide my chest as much as possible. Then one day, on an episode of What Not to Wear, Clinton and Stacy were watching the hidden camera footage of a woman before they ambushed her… and they kept remarking about how a lot of the woman’s problems would be solved with a professional bra fitting.

(Note: I am a member of the Everywhere Society and Everywhere has provided me with compensation for this post about Macy’s. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own.)

Well, that was a bombshell for me… I could identify A LOT with what that woman was trying to cope with.

So I hit the department stores, got fitted, and replaced my bras with the RIGHT bra! It was a HUGE boost of confidence, I no longer felt the urge to hide my (then skinny) body anymore.

Life changing.

So of course I jumped on the chance to see Clinton host a fashion show at Macy’s and answer questions when he was in Fresno on Saturday! I was so excited… that I kind of texted Erin of Nerdy for Nails at 5:30am on a Saturday asked her to be my date!

Then I realized, this is Clinton Kelly. Giving a fashion show. I can’t go in my typical clothes.

Cue more boob problems, I needed something to wear… and I felt like everything I already owned was out of date or not nice enough.

Friday, my mother in law and I set off to find a cute blouse or dress for me to wear to the event. We stopped in Target first, because well… Holly buried my favorite Burt’s Bees lip shimmer somewhere in the garden, along with my Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. Yeah, that dog.

We made a detour for the Women’s section… just to glance at what was there before we hit a department store… but fell in love with this dress. And two others, whoops! Never, ever, ever have I been able to dress shop so easily — thanks to my chest volume. I’m still slightly in shock at how easy that shopping trip was, and cheap too!

The zipper on the back of my new black dress? Totally matches Essie’s Tart Deco, which was waiting at home in my polishes-to-wear-soon box. I ended up grabbing Burt’s Bees tinted lip balm in Hibiscus instead of replacing my apricot lip shimmer, I’m always afraid of getting the shimmer on my teeth at the wrong moment! Plus, I only wear tinted BB cream and some light eye liner… any more make-up and I look like a clown.

Now that I had my outfit, I had a minor freak out about the state of my eyebrows. I knew Clinton wasn’t going to ambush anyone, but I still knew how picky he was about maintaining your eyebrows. I just couldn’t risk leaving them as they were… it’s been a bit busy around here lately, and my ancestors aren’t exactly known for having naturally tame eyebrows. Once my Scottish eyebrows were tamed back beyond Hadrian’s Wall, I was good to go!

I’ll be back tomorrow with my post about the show, but if you can’t wait until then — check out my Instagram feed and Twitter feed, I covered the event in real-time! Be sure to check out Erin’s blog too, she already has her posts up!

(Note: I am a member of the Everywhere Society and Everywhere has provided me with compensation for this post about Macy’s. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own. I have also included a few Amazon affiliate links to help cover the costs of this blog, and all those dresses I bought!)

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

Well, March… April… and now May have been too busy for me to keep up with #megsboringlife. Busyness does not equal not boring… if you follow me on instagram, you probably noticed I haven’t been posting as much as I usually do.

Why so busy? Tons of reasons, but the one big long-term stressor has been the decision to move from the house we’ve been renting, to a townhouse while we start to house hunt. It was a lot of searching for the right place, figuring out what belongings we want to purge, and budgeting for the new things we need to buy. On top of that, I had a lot of special work projects and end of the semester madness. Oh – and finally getting Poppy in to get hearing aids, that’s taken five times the amount of time we originally anticipated!

Did I mention I also stopped drinking caffeinated tea during this time?

Yeah, not sure why, it just kind of happened. My kombucha replaced my hot teas, the kombucha barely has any caffeine… so I’m slowly adjusting.

We also were determined to finish the Couch to 5k program once and for all… we got to the very last workout and uh, got even busier these last two weeks. So, tonight we’re going to backtrack to Week 7 Day 3 and pick up from there!

Holly has also been keeping me busy… she’s still definitely all-puppy!

It’s almost a full-time job keeping her out of trouble!

The good news is, I do have new products for May mapped out and almost ready for release! There will be two large collabs, more mini-Os, and maybe even a large bundle or Free With Purchase!

I better get back to work, so I’ll have time to get those products finished off for you all 🙂 Oh… and time to sort and pack for the move I guess… it’s making me never want to move again!

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

Yep, I’m still going at it!!! I’m totally sold on this project, it’s probably been bad for my budget because I keep buying more pocket scrapping stuff… but I’m excited by my results. If you’re new, head over here to read all about how I have ditched the preconceived notions about pocket scrapping (like a double pager has to equal one week,) to just do my own thing and LOVE IT!

This is just through the 9th. On the 10th, I came down with a terrible head cold that I’m *still* trying to shake. It took me a whole day just to scrap one page when I was at my worst with my head cold, but I did it!

Like I said in my last update, pocket scrapping relaxes me now that I don’t worry about keeping to a time constraint or other pocket scrapping notion. And for the first time in my digiscrapping LIFE — I have been consistently mixing products. Normally I stick to one kit or collection, now I’m mixing in these awesome journaling cards by LJS Designs to make up for the lack of journaling cards that “work” for me in the kits I’m using.

And… I totally love using internet memes like in the page above. It fits Holly perfectly, the whole family got such a kick out of it that we’re still referring to Holly’s “organic diet.”

It’s the journaling cards that have been my biggest hang up. Even in Mommyish & Just Jaimee’s recent pocket scrapping collabs (like the one in the page above,) there just aren’t enough 4×6 journaling cards in them for me in the orientation I need or a design that works for me. I settled for the two cards in the above layout. Which is why this set by LJS Designs has been so invaluable, the colors go with almost any kit and they’re fun while still being basic enough to fit the design style of the kits… I just feel like using something different every few layouts. I hope she makes another set soon!

Even though I’m using lots of different kits, I am trying to keep to using the same kit per “double pager” — if that makes sense. If I do get these printed, I want the pages to match the ones opposite of them in colors and kit. I totally failed at that with these last two pages… oh well! Messing up once in a while with keeping to that, isn’t a big deal.

But did you notice what’s special about that last page?? I got to see Studio Romy and Crafty Button Designs on the 9th!!! Amber posted about going to the Celtic Festival… and I knew Jeff would love going to something like that (even though we think he might be german/polish) so we did! And Romy came along too!

It was awesome, we have to get back together again soon!! I love meeting my digi-friends in real life!

That’s it for March so far, I’ve been so busy with the Oscraps Birthday celebrations and working on new products… that I haven’t had a chance to catch up!

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

Well, I can’t stop pocket scrapping now. It’s a relaxing thing to do in the evenings when I don’t want to read or work. Since I last blogged about my pocket scrapping issues, I have finished scrapping February!

February was a really crappy month, for reasons I couldn’t scrap, so I’m glad to have it completely behind us.

#megsboringlife page 5 – Made with the February 2014 Storyteller Ultimate Bundle by Just Jaimee, and the Project Grids V 2 by Amy Martin

Youtube link for third square: http://youtu.be/zLrA7aKxt3I — Products Used — Template: Project Grids Vol. 5 by Amy Martin, Doily Journaling Card from Everyday Moments 2014 by LJS Designs at Oscraps, other kit stuff from the February 2014 Storyteller Ultimate Bundle by Just Jaimee, and the word arts from Candid by Just Jaimee and Mommyish.

I surprised myself with sticking to the same handwriting font for my journaling cards, The Short Caps. I tried to use a different one on my last page, but I ended up switching back. I don’t know if I’m going to keep using that font, but it is definitely my current favorite handwriting font. I’m also totally in love with these versatile journaling cards by LJS Designs. I actually have several sets of journaling cards that would *seem* they would be versatile, but Lorie’s is the only set that I have fallen in love with and ALWAYS am able to fit in with whatever main kit I’m using.

I’m trying to be good and remember to upload all the #megsboringlife layouts to this set on flickr. I also need to give myself a budget and go through my stash more — because I’m having a VERY hard time resisting buying more pocket scrapping-friendly kits and products. And I haven’t even looked at this weekend’s new releases!!

Well, that’s it for now — March is already looking up, so I’m somewhat afraid I’ll have more to scrap this month, hehe!

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Meet Meg

Hey all! Welcome to Our Misadventures, which is a mix of my personal and business blog. I'm Meg, I'm a full-time social media strategist with a passion for lifting up small businesses and entrepreneurs.

I'm an adventure and travel addict, married to my best friend (cliché but true,) I love good tea all throughout the day – and sometimes relax with a good book. I'm a huge advocate of primal eating & living, and a slave to two small puppy dogs and two round guinea pigs.